Drones? University?

lasttransmissio

Chieftain
Joined
Mar 1, 2015
Messages
16
Having racked up a few victories with the Gians, at the Transcend level, I decided to try out the University. I've learned about the drone issues it faces, and at the moment I am aghast at how to get beyond the initial phases.

As it stands, as soon as the second citizen is created, way early in the game, it automatically turns into a drone. This is making it impossible to advance beyond the early stages, as I miss out on all the early techs. (the coveted Virtual World, let alone the Hunter-Seeker); and this pretty well solidifies being invaded; as I also can't seem to get a scenario where University are the only ones on the continent.

There is no leeway, or safe period, and it seems that even Rec. Commons and Holo. Theater make a limited difference; and this remains the case before the 4 to 7 citizen range. I've looked into my terraforming tactics, to no avail... Since it is next to impossible to get one to two terraformers going. At least long enough not to loose citizens several times over. Any suggestions? ...Cheers!
 
Going to answer my own post...

After spending some time with this, I believe I'm aware of what the balance has to be. I'll also assume the reason there have been 80 views, and no responses to this post, is for the sake of maintaining the integrity of the process through SMAC. I respect this, but I will say, to anyone who bounces into this post in the future, pay attention to your terraforming and your settings... Cheers!
 
This is what I do as the University on Transcend level:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=557447

This won't always help if you end up ten tiles from Sister Miriam on one island, but not much does other than sinking the land in between.:)

I actually win without the Virtual World or the Hunter-Seeker. My Provost "Zhukov" (Professor of Military Science) defends Mother University with MiG's, Hind gunships, Guard's Armies and Shturmovik gravships.

Land and freedom!
 
The University on Transcend is probably the games I've played most.

You need to get to Planned as soon as possible. You need to crash Alien Artifacts to rush The Virtual World. You need to build Punishment Spheres as quickly as possible.

No more drones and you can start mopping up the other factions very quickly. The University is arguably the easiest faction to play on Transcend in my opinion.
 
On transcend, the second civvy is a drone for everyone, without a police unit to suppress it.

I think the extra University drones don't appear until the 4th pop unit but I might be wrong?

Another tip - Librarian specialists count as content civvies, and this can in some cases defer drone riots in addition to generating good sci. I forget if science mods affect specialists in this game, but even if not the extra sci is useful given that you get Planned Networks and Planned economy early.

Industrial Automation and crawlers are an effective way to get around pop restraints, and of course they can be cashed for a wonder when needed. It comes a bit late to rush Virtual World, but an army of crawlers can rush the HSA when that is available, and with a tech lead you should always have first crack at any wonder you choose.
 
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